May 31, 2017
A court considers whether “thrill seeking” on the job prohibits an injured employee from receiving workers’ comp benefits.
Shaun Weaver was hired by Dan the Fence Man in North Carolina to help with fence construction. Part of his job was to load fencing materials provided by Seegars Fence Co. onto a truck using a forklift.
One day, Weaver was returning the forklift to its storage location when it overturned, entrapping him between the roll bars. Weaver says he turned too quickly, causing the forklift to overturn.
Weaver suffered extensive injuries, including ones to his head, neck, back, pelvic bone, liver and spleen. He required several months of in-patient care and an extended stay in an assisted living facility. He applied for workers’ comp benefits, but his claim was denied by Seegars’s workers’ comp carrier (Dan the Fence Man didn’t carry workers’ comp insurance, so Seegars became the statutory employer).
The reason Weaver was denied comp? The owner of a business next door to Seegars who was working about 300 to 350 feet from the storage yard the day Weaver was injured says he saw the forklift being driven in donuts.
Weaver appealed. A workers’ comp commissioner upheld the coverage denial, finding testimony from the next-door business owner to be credible. The full North Carolina Industrial Commission affirmed the commissioner’s opinion. The Commission also credited testimony by an accident reconstruction expert that photos showed curved tire impressions at the scene that were consistent with the forklift driving in tight circles.
The Commission found “the manner in which [Weaver] operated the forklift preceding his injury was unreasonable and reckless, in essence joy riding and/or thrill seeking.”
Weaver appealed.
Read more at SafetyNewsAlert.com
